Dark Pyramid
by Frost Deejn
Summary: When Kari disappears, Gatomon, Yolei, Ken, and T.K. travel to the Demon Underworld to find her. Their search leads them to an enemy from their past.
1. Omens and Auspices

Disclaimer: We all know I don't own_ Digimon_, but in case there are any doubters, let me assure you that I don't own _Digimon_, and my finances strongly indicate I'm not profiting from it in any way.

Author's note: The following story contains references to my previous Digimon fanfics _The Six Tests of Digibalba _and _In Nimbusmon's Shadow_.

Dark Pyramid

Chapter 1: Omens and Auspices

Cody Hida awoke in the dark. He looked around, trying to detect what awoke him. The clock read 2:13 a.m. It couldn't have been Armadillomon: he was in the digital world with the rest of the digimon still searching for Talya and Hebimon. Yet he didn't feel like he was entirely alone. He climbed out of bed and turned on the light. Nothing. He opened the door. No one. After a few minutes, he gave up and went back to bed. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong.

* * *

The next day, T.K. summoned them to a meeting in the digital world. Cody was the first to arrive, followed by Yolei, Davis, and Ken.

Gatomon was waiting with T.K., but the other digimon had yet to arrive.

"What's this about?" said Davis.

"Have any of you heard from Kari today?" T.K. asked.

No one had.

"Neither have I. I tried to contact her when I didn't see her in school. Then I went to her house. Her mother said she didn't see Kari this morning, but she found this in her room." He held up Kari's digivice.

"She wouldn't have just left it. Something happened to her, I can feel it," said Gatomon.

"Did anyone else wake up around two o'clock this morning?" Cody asked.

T.K. blinked with surprise. "As a matter of fact, yes. I felt weird, but I couldn't figure out why."

"I woke up, too, but I didn't see anything, so I went back to bed," Davis replied.

"So did I!" Yolei announced. "I thought I had a nightmare or something."

They all looked at Ken, who hadn't spoken yet. He was deep in thought. Yolei studied his face: his expressions were so hard to read; complex and deep, yet muted.

"Did you wake up last night, Ken?" T.K. inquired.

"Yes," he said. He didn't tell them he'd also had a nightmare, or perhaps a vision. A red sun, a dark pyramid, and something else he couldn't quite see.

"We need to find her. She may be at the Dark Ocean again."

"No," Ken said. They looked at him, waiting for an explaination. "She's in the underworld."

"How do you know?" Yolei asked.

"I just know."

"Then what are we waiting for?" said Gatomon.

"We don't even know how to get there."

"I know a way," Gatomon told them. "One of the jaguarmon I met last time I was there told me about a secret way through a cave in Mictlan Mountain."

"We should wait for our digimon before going," Cody advised.

"There's not enough time!" Gatomon nearly shouted.

Ken added somberly, "I don't think we should all go. I don't think it will be a case of safety in numbers, and if I'm wrong there should be someone here looking for her."

"Well I'm going," Gatomon declared.

"It will be dangerous."

"I think I remember what the underworld is like," she retorted. "Kari's my partner."

"I'm going too," T.K. insisted.

"Count me in!" said Davis.

"I think I should go, too," said Yolei. "She was my DNA digivolving partner."

"I don't think that's a good idea," T.K. said. "If it's going to be as dangerous as Ken and Gatomon say, maybe only Ken and Gatomon and I should go."

"We're wasting time," Gatomon whined.

"Yolei should come with us," Ken said. "Everyone else should stay behind, including the digimon."

"Why?" T.K. asked.

"I don't know why. I just have a feeling...that if we wait for them, it will be too late for Kari."

T.K. gave him a questioning look. As crazy as it sounded, he trusted Ken, and he knew both Ken and Kari had "feelings" that usually turned out to be true. "Okay," he said. "Let's go."

* * *

To T.K. and Yolei, who had never been to the demon underworld before, it was a bleak and gloomy place. To Gatomon and Ken, it was that added to some unpleasant memories.

It didn't take long before they saw a hematite-colored pyramid rising in the distance.

"I saw that in my dream," Ken told them.

"That's where Kari is," Gatomon said, "I know it."

When they reached the pyramid, they discovered it had two entrances: one on the east side of its base, the other on the west side.

"Let's split up," T.K. suggested.

Ken agreed. "You and Gatomon take the east entrance, Yolei and I will take the west entrance."

"Right. Contact me on the D-3 if you find her."

"I don't think they'll work down here." Ken replied.

They went their separate ways.

"This place feels evil," T.K. commented when they entered the east door.

"Which is why we have to find Kari and get out as soon as possible," Gatomon said. She sniffed nervously. "And keep your eyes open; we're not alone."

They continued cautiously. The light from the entrance receded behind them, but the pyramid's interior was lit by a seemingly-sourceless twilight.

"Ken had a good idea about how we should pair up," Gatomon said. "This way, both groups have someone who's been in the underworld before."

"I hope that helps us, but I wonder why he agreed to let Yolei come in the first place."

"Shh!" Gatomon froze, listening.

T.K. looked around. The dim corridor was narrow and clearly deserted. "Gatomon, there's no one here..."

Right then something large and dark dropped from above, leathery wings outstretched. T.K. jumped back. Gatomon's hairs stood on end.

"Hello, Gatomon."

"Hello, Deathbatmon. You startled us."

"You know this digimon?" T.K. asked.

"We kind of hung out together at a ballgame," Deathbatmon answered.

"Have you seen my partner?" Gatomon asked. "She disappeared last night. She's about as old as him, and has short brown hair and light brown eyes."

"Why, yes. Last night a noise woke me up. It was a digimon I've never seen before, carrying a human girl. She looked asleep."

"Can you describe this digimon?" T.K. questioned.

Deathbatmon thought for a moment, then drew a symbol in the dust of the floor. T.K. and Gatomon gasped.

"It can't be," T.K. breathed.

Gatomon looked at Deathbatmon seriously. "Is this digimon still here?"

He shrugged. "I saw it leave this morning. It might have come back through the other passage."

"Do you know where Kari is?"

"Probably in the inner chamber. I can take you there."


	2. The Other Keys

Chapter 2:

The Other Keys

Wormmon's weeks of searching were about to pay off.

He'd been following one lead after another, but now he was finally close to finding Talya's latest hideout, deep in a swampy forest at the base of Mount Zmeya.

He spotted Hebimon, alone. She seemed to be patrolling. He gulped down his nervousness and emerged from the shadows.

"You told me," he said, startling her, "that you don't want to be my enemy. Prove it now by listening to me."

She stared at him with her unblinking eyes. "What do you want, Wormmon?" The question sounded less unkind than she'd been trying for. Unkindness didn't come naturally to her.

Wormmon had been asking himself that same question. They were supposed to find Hebimon and Talya so they could retrieve the Key they stole, but after Talya spared their lives when she could have destroyed them, Wormmom wondered if it was really necessary. He knew what an evil human was like, and Talya didn't seem evil to him. But it was Hebimon who really caught his interest. He couldn't get her out of his mind, and he wanted to see her again without knowing why. He was beginning to understand how Ken felt about Yolei a little bit better.

"I just want to talk," Wormmon finally answered.

Hebimon thought it might have been a trick, but her natural curiosity compelled her to hear what he had to say. "About what?"

"Just because our partners are enemies doesn't mean we can't be friends. Or at least I think we should try talking out our disagreements before resorting to fighting."

"I agree. Talya doesn't want to fight, and I don't think your partner really wants to fight, either."

"Right. So let's talk."

Hebimon cautiously approached him. Her green scales glittered like emeralds in the patches of sunlight. "Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

"The digidestined think Talya should return the Key."

Hebimon turned away. "I should have known you would start there. The Rainbow Key belongs to Talya now."

"She stole it. And it's very dangerous for a human to have that much power."

Hebimon gave him a strange look. "You're partner seems able to handle it."

"You know that hasn't always been true. When he was the digimon emperor, Ken used his genius for evil. I'm not saying Talya will use the power of the Key for evil, but that's what the digidestined are worried about."

"And I wasn't talking about his 'genius'," Hebimon said.

Wormmon drew back. "What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously.

"Has Ken ever done things that others humans can't do?"

"No..." But now that he thought about it, Wormmon did remember a few things Ken did as the digimon emperor that hadn't seemed possible.

Hebimon continued. "Have evil digimon taken a particular interest in him?"

"A few, I guess. Myotismon, Daemon, Balaammon...What are you getting at?"

"An inscription we found with the Rainbow Key said there were other Keys, including two that somehow found their way into humans on Earth—the Dark Key and the Light Key."

"And you think Ken has one of them?"

"That's what my partner thinks. We have no idea who might have the other." She began to slither away. "Just thought you should take that into consideration," she said before disappearing into a muddy pool.


	3. Voices from the Darkness

Chapter 3: Voices from the Darkness

"This place is really creepy," Yolei commented.

"Yes."

Yolei looked at Ken with annoyance. "You could at least try to cheer me up."

"Do you remember that day when you and Kari and I were in the woods, and we shifted into the Dark Ocean dimension?"

"Of course," she replied. "What about it?"

"This probably isn't quite that bad yet."

"Thanks a lot," she replied sarcastically.

The corridor ended in a steep upward slope of rubble that might once have been a staircase.

"Think you can climb this?" Ken asked quietly.

"Yes," she replied. "I'll have you know I'm a great climber."

Ken nodded, not even acknowledging her sharp tone, and began making his way up the slope. Yolei followed close behind him.

"What's wrong with you today?"

He didn't even look at her when he answered. "I'm just worried about Kari."

"It's more than that," she said. "You've been even quieter than usual all day, you won't look me in the eyes...you're acting like you did back before you forgave yourself for being the emperor. Something's really wrong and you're not telling me, and that scares me."

Ken didn't answer. "We have to save Kari," he said after a minute.

Yolei was about to angrily point out that she knew that already when a chunk of rock slipped from under her foot. She yelped and began sliding. Ken's hand darted out and grabbed her wrist.

"Are you okay?" he asked with deep concern.

"I think so."

Ken helped her up. "I thought you said you're a great climber," he tried to joke.

"I might have been exaggerating," she said meekly.

Holding hands, they continued climbing the rubble. Ken sensed they were getting closer to Kari...and to something else. Pure evil, that wasn't a feeling he could easily forget. The more he thought about it, the more worried he became. Something brought Kari to this pyramid hoping that she would be defeated and corrupted by the evil here. Ken hoped she was strong enough to resist; he hadn't been when the evil of the Dark Ocean saturated him.

The stairway ended and they found themselves on flat floor once again, but Ken didn't release Yolei's hand, and she didn't complain.

They came to a wide room. The floor was an intricate mosaic of black and red stones in an abstract but clearly deliberate pattern. Ken hesitated.

"What is it, Ken?"

"You don't even sense it, do you?" he asked incredulously.

She looked into the room. "It feels sick with evil. Kind of revolting. It feels like..." It suddenly occurred to her. "It feels just like the day the Dark Ocean tried to take Kari." She looked at Ken intently. "We have to keep going. Kari could be in there!"

"She is," he confirmed. "It's just...I'm not sure I can make it."

Yolei gaped at him. "I'm not going in there alone!"

"I hope it won't be necessary, but you have to promise me that if I can't go on, you'll leave me behind and find Kari."

"I promise," she lied.

Ken smiled at her. _You're so cute when you lie_, he thought. But he knew they were running out of time, so he didn't protest.

They tentatively entered the room. Ken could feel the evil trying to slip around his brain. He concentrated on resisting the onslaught. They were near the center of the room when he stumbled and fell to his knees. "No!"

"Ken?"

Memories flashed through Ken's head. Dark images. The Dark Ocean surged around him, trying to pull him away. Voices taunted him. _You are one with the darkness._

"Fight it, Ken!"

He couldn't see Yolei, but he felt her hand in his, and clung to it. A black pit opened up beneath him, but he told himself it wasn't real. He concentrated on the touch of Yolei's hand: that was real.

_Darkness alone inside._

_No!_ Ken shouted into the darkness. _I have friendship. I have love inside of me, too. The Darkness can't take that away from me!_

_You have failed the Darkness...now you will pay._

"Yolei," he whimpered.

_Do you want to drag her down with you?_

"I'm here, Ken." She could sense the cold shadow of the evil attacking him, and had no idea what to do.

_You will kill her,_ the voices said. _You will infect her._

Ken looked at his hands. They were covered in blood. Horrified, he let go of Yolei.

"Ken, what are you doing?" She grabbed his arms. He tried to push her away, but she didn't let go. She dragged him toward the far door, hoping the attack would abate when they left the room. "Whatever you think's happening, Ken, it's not real. Just hold on to me. We'll get out of here."

They stumbled through the door into a narrow passageway. Yolei lowered Ken to a sitting position against the wall. He was quivering. He looked up at her apologetically. "Yolei..."

"You _knew,_" she said accusingly.

His eyebrow flickered in confusion. "Huh?"

"You knew you were going to face that, didn't you? Is that why you wanted me to come with you?"

"I knew I would need your strength. And so will Kari. I'm sorry, Yolei..."

She didn't let him finish. "Sorry? You knew you were going to go through that, but you came anyway." She thought for a moment, and said more quietly, "You must care about her a lot."

Ken didn't catch her implication. "We need to hurry."

"Are you sure you don't need to rest some more?" she asked as she helped him to his feet.

"I'm alright now," he said with a gentle smile. "Thanks to you."


	4. Into the Dark

Chapter 4: Into the Dark

Deathbatmon led Gatomon and T.K. up a wall on which narrow handholds and footholds had been carved. After several strenuous and nerve-wracking minutes, they reached an upper level.

"That was a shortcut," Deathbatmon said apologetically. "Perhaps you should have gone the long way."

"Whichever way helps us find Kari faster is the way we should go," Gatomon replied.

"The way will be easier now. Follow me."

"Does anyone else feel a little bit dizzy?" T.K. asked.

"This place feels a little like the Dark Ocean," Gatomon determined.

"This pyramid was built ages ago by the Fourteen Fallen Lords over a portal to another dimension," Deathbatmon informed them.

They came to a fork in the corridor.

"Now which way?" T.K. asked as he peered down one passage, then the other. "Should we split up?"

Gatomon's ears flicked forward. "You might want to wait for a moment. I hear Yolei and Ken coming."

"Ken's here?" Deathbatmon asked excitedly.

"Ken, Yolei! This way!" T.K. called.

A moment later, they arrived from one of the passages. Ken was pale and shaking.

"Are you okay?" T.K. asked him.

Yolei answered before Ken could. "You know that feeling of evil in here? Well, Ken's more sensitive to it than we are."

"Kari may be even worse," Ken warned them. "I think someone brought her here hoping to destroy her so they could use her power."

"Who would do something like that?" Yolei gasped.

"Balaammon would if he had the chance, but..." he shook his head, "He couldn't have taken Kari from our world. I don't know who could."

"We know," said T.K.

"Who?" Yolei asked.

"You're not going to like this," Gatomon said.

"Well don't keep us in suspense!" Yolei yelled. "Who took Kari?"

"Daemon."

"No," Ken whispered in dismay.

Yolei put a comforting hand on his shoulder. After a moment of gathering her courage, she looked up with an expression of determination. "Come on, Kari's in trouble. We know which way to go, so what are we waiting for?"

She started down the unexplored passage; Ken followed a few steps behind. T.K. stared after Yolei in amazement for a moment. "When did Yolei get so brave?" he wondered.

Gatomon shrugged and scampered after them.

"I've never been this far in the pyramid," Deathbatmon said nervously.

"You can go back if you want," T.K. said.

"No way! Ken might need me."

They followed after the others. The passage began sloping downward and winding in a spiral.

Ken shivered.

"Are you sure you want to keep going?" Yolei asked.

"I've made it this far." He forced a smile. "We're getting very close."

_To what?_ Yolei wondered: _Kari, Daemon, or something worse?_

The passage ended at the mouth of a natural cave. A dim, sickly light emanated from it. Ken and Yolei stopped at the entrance, staring at something within. T.K., Gatomon, and Deathbatmon caught up to them. They saw where the light came from.

"The Dark Ocean," T.K. whispered.

The portal was at the back of the cave. They could see the ocean waves of that evil, empty world crash against a dark shore, on which a black tower stood like a negative image of a light house, beckoning to death instead of life.

Ken shut his eyes and took a deep, shaking breath. Then he took a step inside the cave.

Yolei saw his face tighten as he fought against some internal torment. "Ken, you don't have to go."

"Yes, I do. I need to do this, Yolei."

She put her arm around him. "Can't I help you, at least?"

He smiled a sincere but pained smile at her, and gratefully accepted her help.

"The darkness is so strong in here," T.K. said as he followed them into the cave.

Gatomon gasped as she spotted something. "Kari!"

She was tied to a stalagmite near the portal. She looked unconscious. Gatomon and T.K. ran to her. T.K. fumbled to untie her, then caught her as she fell forward.

"Kari, Kari, wake up!"

"We have to get her out of here," Ken said. "Fast."

Yolei ran to Kari and helped T.K. carry her out of the cave. Ken took a last look at the portal, wishing he could find a way to collapse it but knowing they didn't have time. Then he joined them outside the cave.

"Come on, Kari. Wake up!" Gatomon urged.

Kari's eyes were open, but they were dull and unseeing. Her breathing was slow and regular. T.K. held her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. "Come back to me Kari. Please." He looked up at Ken. "Can she even hear me?"

"I don't know." Ken stared at her, trying to remember or think of or sense anything that could help. There was something...something he could almost grasp.

"Is she going to wake up?" Gatomon asked with worry.

Yolei suddenly became angry. "Of course she's going to wake up, Gatomon! She's always fought off the Dark Ocean before, why would this time be different?"

Tears began to well in T.K.'s eyes. "Kari...Kari, please wake up! I need you." He suddenly kissed her. Then he looked at her as a fat tear fell from his eye. "I guess that only works in fairy tales," he said sadly.

Something flashed in Ken's mind. There was a wall that stretched out of sight in both directions, and a mirror topped with a silver sculpture of an owl. He and Kari were lying side by side in a garden. They both had the same vacant look in their eyes that Kari had now. Yolei reached for him, touched him, and his eyes focused on her...

The images disappeared. He remembered the time he dipped his digivice into the Dark Ocean. He remembered hearing echoes from his future. Was that what he just experienced?

"Yolei," he said, "You were the one who saved Kari from the Dark Ocean before. Maybe you can reach her now."

"How?"

"Talk to her, touch her, help connect her to reality, the way you helped me earlier."

She blinked in confusion, but went to Kari. "Kari," she said softly. "Can you hear me? Listen to me. I'm your best friend, and I'm not leaving here without you, so you'd better wake up, or...or I'm going to have to drag you all the way back to the digital world!" She grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Kari, you're stronger than this! Wake up now so we can get out of here!"

Kari blinked.

"Kari?" T.K. nudged Yolei out of the way.

Kari looked at him. "T.K. Where am I? I feel so strange..."

"It's okay," he said gently. "Can you walk? We need to get out of here." He helped her up and kept his arm around her for support.

She looked around at the pyramid walls, then she caught sight of Deathbatmon, who was waiting quietly. "Who is that? What's going on?"

"I'll explain later," Gatomon promised. "But right now we need to get going!"

Kari seemed dazed and didn't speak as they ascended the passageway. When they reached the fork, Deathbatmon stopped and listened. "I hear something coming," he said. "Come this way." He led them down the passage that Yolei and Ken had taken. They hid in a shadowy corner and watched.

It was he. It was Daemon.

T.K. covered Kari's mouth with his hand to keep her from gasping loud enough to give them away. They all held their breath and hoped Daemon couldn't see them, and couldn't hear their pounding hearts. A paranoid thought crossed T.K.'s mind: suppose Deathbatmon had been working for Daemon all along and would now betray them? But Deathbatmon remained as silent as the rest of them.

When Daemon came to the fork, he turned down the other passage, toward the portal. They waited a minute before trusting themselves to breathe again, then wordlessly and quickly continued down the passage.

"Daemon," Kari finally broke the silence. "That was Daemon. What is he doing here? I though he was in the Dark Ocean."

"I hoped the Dark Ocean would hold him forever," Ken said, "but I never really believed it would."

"He kidnapped you," T.K. told Kari.

"Why me? Why not..." She glanced at Ken.

"I'm not sure. Balaammon said you and I both have a power; maybe Daemon realized you're more powerful," he said.

They came to the room with the red and black mosaic. Ken froze and a shiver ran down his spine. He wondered if the room would affect Kari the same way, and watched her as she and T.K. crossed the floor. She didn't seem to have a problem with it. Maybe it was something to do with the Dark power Ken possessed that wouldn't affect her Light, or maybe compared to what she had been through since being brought to the cave, the evil here wasn't even enough to notice.

"Come on, Ballplayer," Deathbatmon encouraged when he saw Ken hesitate.

Yolei took his hand. "We're almost there," she said.

Ken nodded. He fixed his eyes on Yolei as they crossed the room. This time he made it without faltering.

* * *

After safely returning to their world, Yolei paid Kari a visit. 

She took a seat at the foot of Kari's bed. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Better. But I keep remembering snatches of what happened to me. I wish I didn't."

"It will be okay," Yolei assured her. "You're back now. The digimon are keeping their eyes out for Daemon. We'll find a way to stop him."

Kari nodded, but she looked worried. Then she brightened up and changed the subject. "Are you still dating that boy Tommi?"

"Yes. Why?"

She blushed a little. "T.K. asked me to dinner next Friday, and I was wondering if you wanted to double-date."

"That would be fun." Yolei smiled, but didn't sound overly enthusiastic.

"Yolei, is there something wrong? Are you and Tommi having problems?"

"Well, we're going through a rough patch, but we'll work it out."

Kari rolled her eyes. Since Yolei had started dating, she'd been through at least half a dozen boyfriends. The truth was, she fell in love far too easily for any of them to last long.

"But it's you and T.K. I'm not sure about," she added.

Kari frowned. "Why not?"

"Well, I know he's liked you for years, but..."

"But what?"

She sighed. "I think Ken likes you, and I think you and Ken would make a perfect couple. You have so much in common. You're both gentle and quiet and sensitive, you both have that weird mystical power thing, or whatever..."

"What makes you think Ken likes me?"

"Just some things he said while we were looking for you. He didn't actually say he likes you like that, but I got that impression."

"I don't think he does," Kari decided. "I would be able to tell. And…I like T.K."

"If you say so. But I know which one I would choose if I were you," she said. Kari thought she sounded a little wistful. But then she perked up. "Anyway, Tommi and I would love to double date with you and T.K. Just tell me where and when and we'll meet you there."

* * *

Thanks for reviewing, JyouraKoumi, CStini, zodiacFnD, and Samreen Matthews. 

On the next installment of Frost Deejn's Digimon Fanfiction: Tsukiyo invites the digidestined to holiday at her family's cabin. Will they have a relaxing, uneventful vacation? Not a chance.


End file.
